¹ See Wiener, Antje, ‘Contested compliance: Interventions on the normative structure of world politics’, European Journal of International Relations, 10:2 (2004), pp. 189–234CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Acharya, Amitav, ‘How ideas spread: Whose norms matter? Norm localization and institutional change in Asian Regionalism’, International Organization, 58:2 (2004), pp. 239–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Capie, David, ‘Localization as resistance: the contested diffusion of small arms norms in Southeast Asia’, Security Dialogue, 39:6 (2008), pp. 637–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Acharya, Amitav, ‘Norm subsidiarity and regional orders: Sovereignty, regionalism, and rule-making in the Third World’, International Studies Quarterly, 55 (2011), pp. 95–123CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Boesenecker, Aaron P. and Vinjamuri, Leslie, ‘Lost in translation? Civil society, faith-based organizations and the negotiation of international norms’, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 5:3 (2011), pp. 345–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nicole Deitelhoff and Lisbeth Zimmermann, ‘Things We Lost in the Fire: How Different Types of Contestation Affect the Validity of International Norms’, PRIF Working Papers, No. 18 (Frankfurt am Main, 2013); Zwingel, Susanne, ‘How do norms travel? Theorizing international women's rights in transnational perspective’, International Studies Quarterly, 56:1 (2012), pp. 115–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Krook, Mona Lena and True, Jacqui, ‘Rethinking the life cycles of international norms: the United Nations and the global promotion of gender equality’, European Journal of International Relations, 18:1 (2012), pp. 103–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bettizza, Gregorio and Dionigi, Filippo, ‘How do religious norms diffuse? Institutional translation and international change in a post-secular world society’, European Journal of International Relations, 21:3 (2015), pp. 621–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bloomfield, Alan, ‘Norm antipreneurs and theorizing resistance to normative change’, Review of International Studies, 42 (2016), pp. 310–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bloomfield, Alan and Scott, Shirley V. (eds), Norm Antipreneurs and the Politics of Resistance to Global Normative Change (London: Routledge, 2017)Google Scholar.

² Acharya ‘How ideas spread’.

³ Merry, Sally E., ‘Transnational human rights and local activism: Mapping the middle’, American Anthropologist, 108:1 (2006), pp. 38–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Levitt, Peggy and Merry, Sally, ‘Vernacularization on the ground: Local uses of global women's rights in Peru, China, India and the United States’, Global Networks, 9:4 (2009), pp. 441–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴ Zwingel, ‘How do norms travel?’; Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’; Boesenecker and Vinjamuri, ‘Lost in translation?’; Ostebo, Marit T., ‘Translations of gender equality among rural Arsi Oromo in Ethiopia’, Development and Change, 46:3 (2015), pp. 442–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵ Bloomfield, ‘Norm antipreneurs’; Bloomfield and Scott, Norm Antipreneurs; Rochelle Terman, ‘Rewarding Resistance: Theorizing Defiance to International Norms’, Center for International Security & Cooperation (Stanford University, 2017).

⁶ World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2018, available at: {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2018.pdf} accessed 4 June 2019.

⁷ Institute of Population Studies, Domestic Violence against Women in Turkey (2014), p. 7, available at: {http://www.hips.hacettepe.edu.tr/ingilizceozetraporweb.pdf} accessed 24 November 2015.

⁸ Global Gender Gap Report, p. 277.

⁹ Inter-Parliamentary Union, ‘Women in National Parliaments’, available at: {http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm} accessed 30 May 2019.

¹⁰ See Somer, Murat, ‘Understanding Turkey's democratic breakdown: Old vs. new and indigenous vs. global authoritarianism’, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 16:4 (2016), pp. 481–503CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Esen, Berk and Gümüşçü, Şebnem, ‘Rising competitive authoritarianism in Turkey’, Third World Quarterly, 37:9 (2016), pp. 1581–606CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹¹ The analysis of public statements of political elites focuses mainly on the period between 2011 and 2017. AKP's conservative stance on women's status has become more evident since the early 2010s when the former prime minister questioned gender equality, arguing that women and men are different, yet they complement one another. Thus, this study focuses on the discourses and strategies of the party leadership starting with the party's third term in government (2011–15).

¹² Krook and True, ‘Rethinking’, pp. 103–04.

¹³ See, among others, Finnemore, Martha and Sikkink, Kathryn, ‘International norm dynamics and political change’, International Organization, 52:4 (1998), pp. 887–917CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Keck, Margaret E. and Sikkink, Kathryn, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998)Google Scholar; Risse, Thomas, Ropp, Stephen C., and Sikkink, Kathryn (eds), The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Acharya ‘How ideas spread’; Zwingel, ‘How do norms travel?’; Krook and True, ‘Rethinking’; Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’; Betts, Alexander and Orchard, Phil (eds), Implementation and World Politics: How International Norms Change Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bloomfield and Scott, Norm Antipreneurs.

¹⁴ Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders.

¹⁵ Finnemore and Sikkink, ‘International norm dynamics’.

¹⁶ Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders.

¹⁷ Wiener, ‘Contested compliance’; Weiner, Antje, A Theory of Contestation (Berlin: Springer, 2014)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Acharya, ‘How ideas spread’; Zwingel, ‘How do norms travel?’; Krook and True, ‘Rethinking’.

¹⁸ See, among others, Acharya ‘How ideas spread’; Capie, ‘Localization’; Zwingel, ‘How do norms travel?’; Levitt and Merry, ‘Vernacularization’; Boesenecker and Vinjamuri, ‘Lost in translation?’; Deitelhoff and Zimmermann, ‘Things We Lost in the Fire’; Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’; Ostebo, ‘Translations of gender equality’; Bloomfield, ‘Norm antipreneurs’; Bloomfield and Scott, Norm Antipreneurs; Terman, ‘Rewarding Resistance’.

¹⁹ Zwingel, Susanne, ‘From intergovernmental negotiations to (sub)national change: a transnational perspective on the impact of CEDAW’, International Feminist Journal of Politics, 7:3 (2005), pp. 400–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Zwingel, ‘How do norms travel?’; Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’.

²⁰ Bucher, Bernd, ‘Acting abstractions: Metaphors, narrative structures, and the eclipse of agency’, European Journal of International Relations, 20:3 (2014), pp. 742–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²¹ Cortell, Andrew P. and Davis, James W. Jr, ‘Understanding the domestic impact of international norms: a research agenda’, International Studies Review, 2:1 (2000), pp. 65–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Checkel, Jeffrey, ‘Norms, institutions, and national identity in contemporary Europe’, International Studies Quarterly, 43:1 (1999), pp. 83–114CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Boesenecker and Vinjamuri, ‘Lost in translation?’; Capie, ‘Localization’.

²² Acharya, ‘Norm subsidiarity’; Boesenecker and Vinjamuri, ‘Lost in translation?’; Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’.

²³ Acharya ‘How ideas spread’, pp. 241, 244.

²⁴ Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’, pp. 623–4; Zwingel, ‘How do norms travel?’.

²⁵ Wiener, ‘Contested compliance’, p. 219.

²⁶ Wiener, ‘Contested compliance’.

²⁷ Acharya, ‘Norm subsidiarity’; Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’.

²⁸ Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’, p. 624.

²⁹ Ibid., p. 623.

³⁰ Deitelhoff and Zimmermann, ‘Things We Lost in the Fire’.

³¹ Ibid., p. 5.

³² Ibid., pp. 1, 5.

³³ Bloomfield, ‘Norm antipreneurs’, p. 319.

³⁴ Deitelhoff and Zimmermann, ‘Things We Lost in the Fire’.

³⁵ Zwingel, ‘How do norms travel?’; Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’.

³⁶ Acharya ‘How ideas spread’.

³⁷ Merry, ‘Transnational human rights’; Levitt and Merry, ‘Vernacularization’.

³⁸ Bettizza and Dionigi, ‘How do religious norms diffuse?’, p. 630.

³⁹ Merry, ‘Transnational human rights’, p. 38.

⁴⁰ Kardam, Nükhet, ‘The emerging global gender equality regime from neoliberal and constructivist perspectives in international relations’, International Feminist Journal of Politics International Feminist Journal of Politics, 6:1 (2004), pp. 85–109CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴¹ Ibid., p. 92.

⁴² Ibid.

⁴³ Zwingel, ‘How do norms travel?’, p. 117.

⁴⁴ See, for example, Fraser, Nancy, ‘From redistribution to recognition? Dilemmas of justice in a “postsocialist” age’, in Justice Interruptus: Critical Reflections on the “Postsocialist” Condition (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 11–39Google Scholar; Squires, Judith, Gender in Political Theory (Cambridge: Polity, 1999), pp. 115–39Google Scholar; Walby, Sylvia, ‘Gender mainstreaming: Productive tensions in theory and practice’, Social Politics, 12:3 (2005), pp. 321–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Verloo, Mieke and Lombardo, Emanuela, ‘Contested gender equality and policy variety in Europe: Introducing a critical frame analysis approach’, in Verloo, Mieke (ed.), Multiple Meanings of Gender Equality (Budapest: Central European University Press, 2007), pp. 21–49Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ Squires, Gender in Political Theory, pp. 115–39; Verloo and Lombardo, ‘Contested gender equality’, pp. 23–4.

⁴⁶ See bell hooks, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (Cambridge: South End Press, 1984); Collins, Patricia Hill, Black Feminist Thought (New York: Routledge, 1991)Google Scholar; Mohanty, Chandra Talpade, ‘Under Western eyes: Feminist scholarship and colonial discourses’, in Mohanty, Chandra Talpade, Russo, Ann, and Torres, Lourdes (eds), Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991), pp. 51–80Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ Crenshaw, Kimberle, ‘Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color’, Stanford Law Review, 43:6 (1991), pp. 1241–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also see Hancock, Ange-Marie, ‘When multiplication doesn't equal quick addition: Examining intersectionality as a research paradigm’, Perspectives on Politics, 5:1 (2007), pp. 63–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jordan-Zachery, Julia S., ‘Am I a black woman or a woman who is black? A few thoughts on the meaning of intersectionality’, Politics and Gender, 3:2 (2007), pp. 254–63Google Scholar; Simien, Evelyn M., ‘Doing intersectionality research: From conceptual issues to practical examples’, Politics and Gender, 3:2 (2007), pp. 264–71Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ Jordan-Zachery, ‘Am I a black woman’, pp. 256–7; Simien, ‘Doing intersectionality research’, p. 265.

⁴⁹ Hancock, ‘When multiplication doesn't equal quick addition’, p. 67.

⁵⁰ See, for example, Göle, Nilüfer, The Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veiling (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996)Google Scholar; Bracke, Sarah, ‘Author(iz)ing agency: Feminist scholars making sense of women's involvement in religious “fundamentalist” movements’, European Journal of Women's Studies, 10:3 (2003), pp. 335–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bilge, Sirma, ‘Beyond subordination vs. resistance: an intersectional approach to the agency of veiled Muslim women’, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 31:1 (2010), pp. 9–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Avishai, Orit, ‘“Doing religion” in a secular world: Women in conservative religions and the question of agency’, Gender and Society, 22:4 (2008), pp. 409–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵¹ Lazreg, Marnia, ‘Decolonizing feminism’, in The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question (New York: Routledge, 1990), pp. 6–19Google Scholar; Mohanty, ‘Under Western eyes’.

⁵² Mahmood, Saba, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2005)Google Scholar; Braidotti, Rosi, ‘In spite of the times: the postsecular turn in feminism’, Theory, Culture & Society, 25:6 (2008), pp. 1–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bracke, Sarah, ‘Conjugating the modern/religious, conceptualizing female religious agency’, Theory, Culture & Society, 25:6 (2008), pp. 51–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bilge, ‘Beyond subordination vs. resistance’; Avishai, ‘Doing religion’.

⁵³ Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York: Routledge, 1990)Google Scholar.

⁵⁴ Mahmood, Politics of Piety, p. 153. Also see Braidotti, ‘In spite of the times’; Bracke, ‘Conjugating the modern/religious’; Avishai, ‘Doing religion’.

⁵⁵ Mahmood, Politics of Piety, p. 9.

⁵⁶ Ibid., p. 33.

⁵⁷ Mufti, Aamir R., ‘Part 1: Why I am not a postsecularist’, boundary 2, 40:1 (2013), pp. 7–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵⁸ Robbins, Bruce, ‘Part 1: Why I am not a postsecularist’, boundary 2, 40:1 (2013), p. 62CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵⁹ Bangstad, Sindre, ‘Saba Mahmood and anthropological feminism after virtue’, Theory, Culture & Society, 28:3 (2011), pp. 28–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶⁰ The term ‘Muslim’ is different from ‘Islamist’ in the sense that the former ‘expresses a religious identity’ while the latter implies ‘a political consciousness and social action’. See Göle, Nilüfer, ‘Secularism and Islamism in Turkey: the making of elites and counter-elites’, Middle East Journal, 51:1 (1997), p. 47Google Scholar.

⁶¹ Islamist women have established various women's organisations since the 1990s. While some organised Islamist women support and legitimise AKP's conservative gender politics, others challenge AKP's discourses and policies not only on women but also on different issue areas. See Aksoy, Hürcan Aslı, ‘Invigorating democracy in Turkey: the agency of organized Islamist women’, Politics & Gender, 11 (2015), pp. 146–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶² See, for example, Fraser, Nancy, ‘Rethinking the public sphere: a contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy’, in Calhoun, Craig (ed.), Habermas and the Public Sphere (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992), pp. 109–42Google Scholar; Seyla Benhabib, ‘Models of public space: Hannah Arendt, the liberal tradition, and Jürgen Habermas’, in Calhoun (ed.), Habermas and the Public Sphere, pp. 73–98.

⁶³ Van Eerdewijk, Anouka and Roggeband, Conny, ‘Gender equality norm diffusion and actor constellations: a first exploration’, in van der Vleuten, Anna, van Eerdewijk, Anouka, and Roggeband, Conny (eds), Gender Equality Norms in Regional Governance (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), pp. 42–64Google Scholar.

⁶⁴ Lombardo, Emanuela, Meier, Petra, and Verloo, Mieke, ‘Stretching and bending gender equality: a discursive approach’, in Lombardo, Emanuela, Meier, Petra, and Verloo, Mieke (eds), The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality: Stretching, Bending and Policymaking (New York: Routledge, 2009), pp. 1–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶⁵ Kandiyoti, Deniz, ‘Women and the Turkish state: Political actors or symbolic pawns?’, in Yuval-Davis, Nira and Anthias, Floya (eds), Woman-Nation-State (New York: St Martin's Press, 1989), pp. 126–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶⁶ Göle, Nilüfer, ‘The gendered nature of the public sphere’, Public Culture, 10:1 (1997), p. 63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶⁷ Tekeli, Şirin, ‘Emergence of the new feminist movement in Turkey’, in Dahlerup, Drude (ed.), The New Women's Movement (London: Sage, 1986), pp. 179–99Google Scholar; Arat, Yeşim, ‘Toward a democratic society: the women's movement in Turkey in the 1980s’, Women's Studies International Forum, 17:2–3 (1994), pp. 241–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶⁸ Tekeli, ‘Emergence of the new feminist movement’; Sirman, Nükhet, ‘Feminism in Turkey: a short history’, New Perspectives on Turkey, 3:1 (1989), pp. 1–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Arat, ‘Toward a democratic society’; Arat, Yeşim, ‘Feminists, Islamists, and political change in Turkey’, Political Psychology, 19:1 (1998), pp. 117–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bodur, Marella and Franceschet, Susan, ‘Movements, states and empowerment: Women's mobilization in Chile and Turkey’, in Parpart, Jane, Rai, Shirin, and Staudt, Kathleen (eds), Rethinking Empowerment: Gender and Development in a Global/Local World (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 112–32Google Scholar.

⁶⁹ Acar, Feride, ‘Country papers: Turkey’, in McPhedran, Marilou, Bazilli, Susan, Erickson, Moana, and Byrnes, Andrew (eds), The First CEDAW Impact Study: Final Report, 203–14 (Toronto: Centre for Feminist Research, York University, 2000), p. 205Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ Sirman, ‘Feminism in Turkey’, p. 16.

⁷¹ ‘Ailenin korunmasına dair kanun [On the protection of the family]’, The Law No. 4320, Official Gazette, No. 23233 (17 January 1998), pp. 15–16.

⁷² Women's Platform on the Turkish Criminal Code, ‘AB için sorumluluklarınızı yerine getirin’, Bianet (26 August 2004), available at: {http://bianet.org/bianet/kadin/41442-ab-icin-sorumluluklarinizi-yerine-getirin} accessed 25 January 2016; Anıl, Ela, Arın, Canan, Hacımirzaoğlu, Ayşe Berktay, Bingöllü, Mehveş, and İlkkaracan, Pınar, The New Legal Status of Women in Turkey (İstanbul: WWHR-New Ways, 2002)Google Scholar; ‘Kadın bakış açısından Türk Ceza Kanunu’, Bianet (7 November 2003), available at: {http://m.bianet.org/biamag/kadin/26093-kadin-bakis-acisindan-turk-ceza-kanunu} accessed 12 October 2018.

⁷³ ‘Medeni Kanun 75 yıl sonra değişti’, Hürriyet (23 November 2001), available at: {http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/medeni-kanun-75-yil-sonra-degisti-382828602001} accessed 7 February 2016.

⁷⁴ ‘Türk Ceza Kanunu [Turkish Criminal Code]’, The Law No. 5237, Official Gazette, No. 25611 (26 September 2004), available at: {http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2004/10/20041012.htm} accessed 3 October 2018.

⁷⁵ Tekeli, ‘Emergence of the new feminist movement’, p. 197.

⁷⁶ Merry, ‘Transnational human rights’, p. 42.

⁷⁷ Acar, ‘Country papers: Turkey’.

⁷⁸ Bodur and Franceschet, ‘Movements, states and empowerment’.

⁷⁹ Savran, Gülnur and Tura, Nesrin, ‘Kader söylediklerini yapabilir mi?’, Pazartesi, 27 (1997), pp. 10–11Google Scholar.

⁸⁰ There were also other groups of women, who advocated competing visions of gender equality throughout the 1990s. Women wearing the türban (headscarf) stressed the different, feminine nature of women, but also demanded to take part in all spheres of life on an equal basis with other actors. Arguing that they were faced with the double oppression of gender and ethnicity, Kurdish women's groups called on Turkish feminists, women's organisations, and state agencies to adopt an intersectional approach in their struggles for gender equality. See Göle, The Forbidden Modern; Bodur and Franceschet, ‘Movements, states and empowerment’; Marella Bodur, ‘Modernity, Social Movements and Democracy: Feminist Movements in post-1980 Turkey’ (unpublished PhD thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa, 2005); Çağlayan, Handan, Analar, Yoldaşlar, Tanrıçalar: Kürt Hareketinde Kadınlar ve Kadın Kimliğinin Oluşumu (İstanbul: İletişim, 2007)Google Scholar; Diner, Çağla and Toktaş, Şule, ‘Waves of feminism in Turkey: Kemalist, Islamist and Kurdish women's movements in an era of globalization’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 12:1 (2010), pp. 41–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸¹ The reform packages, among other changes, lifted the ban on Kurdish-language broadcasting and publishing, abolished the death penalty, introduced a new civil code, and revised the Anti-Terror law as well as the Criminal Code. See Müftüler-Baç, Meltem, ‘Turkey's political reforms and the impact of the European Union’, South European Society and Politics, 10:1 (2005), pp. 16–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸² ‘Türk Ceza Kanunu [Turkish Criminal Code]’, The Law No. 5237, Official Gazette (26 September 2004), available at: {http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/main.aspx?home=http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2004/10/20041012.htm&main=http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2004/10/20041012.htm} accessed 1 February 2016.

⁸³ ‘İş Kanunu [Labour Law]’, The Law No. 4857, Official Gazette (10 June 2003), available at: {http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2003/06/20030610.htm} accessed 1 February 2016.

⁸⁴ ‘Ailenin korunması ve kadına karşı şiddetin önlenmesine dair kanun [Law to protect family and prevent violence against women]’, The Law No. 6284, Official Gazette (8 March 2012), available at: {http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2012/03/20120320-16.htm} accessed 7 February 2016.

⁸⁵ Berivan Tapan and Semra Pelek, ‘Headscarf ban at universities softened’, Bianet (6 October 2010), available at: {http://m.bianet.org/bianet/freedom-of-expression/125248-headscarf-ban-at-universities-softened} accessed 7 February 2016.

⁸⁶ Sebnem Arsu and Dan Bilefsky, ‘Turkey lifts longtime ban on head scarves in state offices’, New York Times (8 October 2013), available at: {https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/world/europe/turkey-lifts-ban-on-head-scarves-in-state-offices.html} accessed 7 February 2016.

⁸⁷ See, for example, Coşar, Simten and Yeğenoğlu, Metin, ‘New grounds for patriarchy in Turkey? Gender policy in the age of AKP’, South European Society and Politics, 16:4 (2011), pp. 555–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Arat, Yeşim, ‘Religion, politics and gender equality in Turkey: Implications of a democratic paradox?’, Third World Quarterly, 31:6 (2010), pp. 869–84CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed; Acar, Feride and Altunok, Gülbanu, ‘The “politics of intimate” at the intersection of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism in contemporary Turkey’, Women's Studies International Forum, 41 (2013), pp. 14–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Korkut, Umut and Eslen-Ziya, Hande, ‘The discursive governance of population politics: the evolution of a pro-birth regime in Turkey’, Social Politics, 23:4 (2016), pp. 555–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kandiyoti, Deniz, ‘Locating the politics of gender: Patriarchy, neo-liberal governance and violence in Turkey’, Research and Policy on Turkey, 1:2 (2016), pp. 103–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cindoğlu, Dilek and Unal, Didem, ‘Gender and sexuality in the authoritative discursive strategies of “New Turkey”’, European Journal of Women's Studies, 24:1 (2017), pp. 39–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸⁸ Helena Smith, ‘Turkey split by plan to criminalise adultery’, The Guardian (5 September 2004), available at: {https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/06/turkey.helenasmith} accessed 8 February 2016.

⁸⁹ Selma Acuner, ‘Yasayla flörtü de yasaklıyorlar!’, interview by Neşe Düzel, Radikal (6 September 2004); Yıldırım Türker, ‘Zina’, Radikal 2 (5 September 2004); ‘Hukuk devletinde zina suç sayılamaz’, Bianet (27 August 2004), available at: {http://bianet.org/kadin/medya/41631-hukuk-devletinde-zina-suc-sayilamaz} accessed 10 February 2016.

⁹⁰ ‘Turkey signals U-turn on adultery’, BBC News (14 September 2004), available at: {http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3654650.stm} accessed 25 January 2016; ‘Women's rights, Turkish style’, New York Times (12 September 2004), available at: {https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/12/opinion/womens-rights-turkish-style.html} accessed 25 January 2016.

⁹¹ ‘AKP'de kadına kota yok’, Milliyet (5 January 2004), available at: {http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2004/01/05/siyaset/siy04.html} accessed 25 January 2016.

⁹² ‘Yaratılışımız farklı bayan!’, Birgün Daily (17 October 2010), available at: {https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/yaratilisimiz-farkli-bayan-55553.html} accessed 7 February 2016.

⁹³ ‘Women should not laugh in public, Turkish deputy PM says’, Hürriyet Daily News (29 July 2014), available at: {http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/women-should-not-laugh-in-public-turkish-deputy-pm-says--69732} accessed 7 February 2016.

⁹⁴ Korkut and Eslen-Ziya, ‘The discursive governance of population politics’.

⁹⁵ ‘Turkish PM Erdoğan reiterates his call for three children’, Hürriyet Daily News (3 January 2013), available at: {http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-pm-erdogan-reiterates-his-call-for-three-children-38235} accessed 3 October 2018.

⁹⁶ Sebnem Arsu, ‘Premier of Turkey seeks limits on abortions’, New York Times (29 May 2012), available at: {http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/world/europe/turkish-premier-calls-for-more-abortion-restrictions.html} accessed 1 February 2018.

⁹⁷ While abortion remains legal, several reports revealed that the procedure was no longer performed by the public hospitals as funds for the procedure were cut. See Pınar Trembley, ‘Turkish laws fail to protect women's right to choose’, Al-Monitor (14 March 2014), available at: {https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/turkish-womens-right-to-choose-law-fails.html} accessed 25 January 2016.

⁹⁸ Elif Shafak, ‘This silence hurts Turkish women’, The Guardian (15 July 2012), available at: {https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/15/turkey-caesarian-ban-silence-hurts-womrn} accessed 7 February 2016; Constanze Letsch, ‘Turkish doctors face fines for elective caesareans’, The Guardian (13 July 2012), available at: {https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/13/turkish-doctors-fines-elective-caesareans?newsfeed=true} accessed 7 February 2016.

⁹⁹ Yazıcı, Berna, ‘The return to the family: Welfare, state, and politics of the family in Turkey’, Anthropological Quarterly, 85:1 (2012), pp. 103–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dedeoğlu, Saniye, ‘Equality, protection or discrimination: Gender equality policies in Turkey’, Social Politics, 19:2 (2012), pp. 269–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Acar and Altunok, ‘The “politics of intimate”’; Buğra, Ayşe, ‘Revisiting the Wollstonecraft dilemma in the context of conservative liberalism: the case of female employment in Turkey’, Social Politics, 21:1 (2014), pp. 148–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁰⁰ Burçin Belge, ‘Women policies erased from political agenda’, Bianet (9 June 2011), available at: {http://bianet.org/bianet/women/130607-women-policies-erased-from-political-agenda} accessed 26 January 2016.

¹⁰¹ Women's Platform for Equality Mechanisms (WPEM), ‘We Protest the Annulment of the Ministry Responsible for Women!’ (21 June 2011), available at: {http://www.wwhr.org/news.php?detay=68} accessed 12 March 2012.

¹⁰² ‘Mothers’ only career should be motherhood, Turkish Health Minister says’, Hürriyet Daily News (1 January 2015), available at: {http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/mothers-only-career-should-be-motherhood-turkish-health-minister-says-76360} accessed 28 April 2017.

¹⁰³ ‘Turkey's Erdogan says childless women are “incomplete”’, Aljazeera.com (6 June 2016), available at: {https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/turkey-erdogan-childless-women-incomplete-160606042442710.html} accessed 17 July 2018.

¹⁰⁴ ‘Erdoğan'dan feministlere: Ya senin bizim dinimizle medeniyetimizle ilgin yok ki’, Diken (17 February 2015), available at: {http://www.diken.com.tr/erdogandan-feministlere-ya-senin-bizim-dinimizle-medeniyetimizle-ilgin-yok-ki/} accessed 18 July 2018.

¹⁰⁵ See Somer, ‘Understanding Turkey's democratic breakdown’; Esen and Gümüşçü, ‘Rising competitive authoritarianism’; Yabancı, Bilge, ‘Populism as the problem child of democracy: the AKP's enduring appeal and use of meso-level actors’, Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 16:4 (2016), pp. 591–617CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁰⁶ Kandiyoti, ‘Locating the politics of gender’, p. 105; Yabancı, ‘Populism’, p. 9.

¹⁰⁷ Yabancı, ‘Populism’; Jessica Leigh Doyle, ‘State control of civil society organizations: the case of Turkey’, Democratization, 24:2 (2017), pp. 244–64.

¹⁰⁸ Istanbul Convention Monitoring Platform, Press Release, ‘Turkey's Women and LGBTI Organizations are Excluded from Council of Europe's Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence’ (29 December 2014), available at: {http://www.morcati.org.tr/tr/23-news/288-turkey-s-women-and-lgbti-organizations-are-excluded-from-council-of-europe-s-convention-on-preventing-and-combating-violence-against-women-and-domestic-violence} accessed 13 November 2017.

¹⁰⁹ KADEM's visions and missions available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/kadem-hakkinda/} accessed 31 May 2019.

¹¹⁰ See Yılmaz, Sare Aydın, ‘A new momentum: Gender justice in the women's movement’, Turkish Policy Quarterly, 13:4 (2015), pp. 107–15Google Scholar.

¹¹¹ Ibid., pp. 111–12, 115. See also Sare Aydın Yılmaz, ‘Eşitlik üstü adalet’, KADEM (n.d.), available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/star-gazetesi-acik-goruste-yayinlanan-esitlik-ustu-adalet-baslikli-yazi/} accessed 11 November 2016.

¹¹² Aydın Yılmaz, ‘A new momentum’, pp. 108–09.

¹¹³ KADEM, ‘Women and Justice Summit Final Declaration’ (n.d.), available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/uluslararasi-kadin-ve-adalet-zirvesi-sonuc-bildirisi/} accessed 12 October 2018. See also KADEM, ‘Toplumsal cinsiyet adaleti kongresi sonuç bildirgesi’ (6 March 2015), available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/toplumsal-cinsiyet-adaleti-kongresi-sonuc-bildirgesi/} accessed 14 October 2018.

¹¹⁴ Aydın Yılmaz, ‘A new momentum’, pp. 110–11.

¹¹⁵ Ibid., p. 112.

¹¹⁶ KADEM, ‘8 Mart Dünya Kadınlar Günü Bildirisi’ (n.d.), available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/8-mart-dunya-kadinlar-gunu-bildirisi-2/} accessed 14 October 2018.

¹¹⁷ Aydın Yılmaz, ‘A new momentum’, pp. 112–14.

¹¹⁸ Ibid., p. 112.

¹¹⁹ Ibid., p. 113.

¹²⁰ Ibid., p. 115.

¹²¹ See Fraser, ‘From redistribution to recognition’; Fraser, Nancy, ‘Feminist politics in the age of recognition: a two-dimensional approach to gender justice’, Studies in Social Justice, 1:1 (2007), pp. 23–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹²² ‘Turkish President Erdoğan says gender equality “against nature”’, Hürriyet Daily News (24 November 2014), available at: {http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-president-erdogan-says-gender-equality-against-nature-74726} accessed 28 April 2017, emphasis added.

¹²³ Aydın Yılmaz, ‘A new momentum’, p. 115.

¹²⁴ Sare Aydın Yılmaz, ‘II. Uluslararası Kadın ve Adalet Zirvesi KADEM kurucu başkanı Sayın Sare Aydın’ın açılış konuşması’ (25 November 2016), available at: {kadem.org.tr/ii-uluslararasi-kadin-ve-adalet-zirvesi-baskani-sayin-sare-aydinin-acilis-konusmasi/} accessed 14 November 2018.

¹²⁵ Aydın Yılmaz, ‘A new momentum’, p. 112.

¹²⁶ Göle, Nilüfer, ‘Global expectations, local experiences: Non-Western modernities’, in Arts, Wil (ed.), Through a Glass, Darkly (Leiden: Brill, 2000), p. 44Google Scholar.

¹²⁷ Scott, Joan W., ‘Gender: a useful category of historical analysis’, The American Historical Review, 91:5 (1986), p. 1067CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹²⁸ Aydın Yılmaz, ‘A new momentum’, p. 115.

¹²⁹ See Özlem Aslan, ‘Equality and difference: Are they mutually exclusive?’, available at: {http://turkishpolicy.com/pdf/TPQ_Debate_on_Gender_Equality_vs_Gender_Justice_Ozlem_Aslan.pdf} accessed 7 February 2017.

¹³⁰ KADEM, ‘W20 was Officially Launched’, available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/en/konular/our-activities/international-activities/} accessed 28 October 2018.

¹³¹ KADEM, ‘Commission on the Status of Women: Session 59^th’, available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/en/commission-on-the-status-of-women-session-59th/} accessed 28 October 2018.

¹³² KADEM, ‘EU-Turkey Civil Network for Women in Politics’, available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/en/grant-projects/} accessed 28 October 2018.

¹³³ Sare Aydın Yılmaz, ‘Uluslararası Kadın ve Adalet Zirvesi KADEM kurucu başkanı Sayın Sare Aydın’ın açılış konuşması’ (24 November 2014), available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/kadem-kadin-ve-demokrasi-dernegi-baskani-sayin-sare-aydinin-acilis-konusmasi/} accessed 12 November 2018.

¹³⁴ Interview of KADEM's President Sare Aydın Yılmaz with Kadın ve Toplum (n.d.), available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/kadem-genel-baskani-doc-dr-sare-aydin-yilmazin-kadin-ve-toplum-dergisi-roportaji/} accessed 11 November 2017.

¹³⁵ Ibid.

¹³⁶ ‘“Erkeksen öfkeni yen!” diyerek ironi yaptık’, interview of KADEM's President Sare Aydın Yılmaz with the national daily Sabah (1 December 2013), available at: {https://www.sabah.com.tr/pazar/2013/12/01/erkeksen-ofkeni-yen-diyerek-ironi-yaptik} accessed 4 June 2019.

¹³⁷ Ibid.

¹³⁸ KADEM, ‘If You are a Man, Overcome Your Anger!’, available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/en/if-you-are-a-man-overcome-your-anger/} accessed 31 May 2019.

¹³⁹ ‘Turkey: Bill to quash child sex convictions protested’, Aljazeera.com (20 November 2016), available at: {https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/11/turkey-bill-quash-child-sex-convictions-protested-161120075936564.html} accessed 11 November 2017.

¹⁴⁰ KADEM, Press Release, ‘KADEM'den cinsel istismar suçu ile ilgili tasarıya yönelik kamuoyu açıklaması’ (n.d.), available at: {http://kadem.org.tr/kademden-cinsel-istismar-sucu-ile-ilgili-yasa-tasarisina-yonelik-kamuoyu-aciklamasi/} accessed 11 November 2017.

¹⁴¹ ‘Turkey puts off controversial sexual assault and consent bill’, CBC News (22 November 2016), available at: {https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/turkey-controversial-marriage-consent-law-1.3861718} accessed 11 November 2017.

¹⁴² Bodur and Franceschet, ‘Movements, states and empowerment’.

¹⁴³ Aydın Yılmaz, ‘Eşitlik üstü adalet’. Feminists supported women demanding to wear türban in the public sphere, arguing that covered women were not admitted to universities not just because of their religious beliefs but because they were women. Men with the same religious convictions had no problems with being admitted, as their heads were uncovered. See, for example, Tura, Nesrin, ‘Türban yasağına hayır’, Pazartesi, 43 (1997), pp. 2–5Google Scholar; Öztürk, Sedef, ‘Kadın sorunu İslamcıların gündeminde: Nereye kadar?’, Sosyalist Feminist Kaktüs, 2 (1988), pp. 38–43Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁴ Aslan, ‘Equality and difference’.

¹⁴⁵ Kaos GL Association, ‘Pro-Government Women NGO: “Homosexuality is Against the Values of Humanity”’ (17 April 2019), available at: {https://kaosgl.org/page.php?id=28082} accessed 4 June 2019.

¹⁴⁶ Yazıcı, ‘The return to the family’; Dedeoğlu, ‘Equality, protection or discrimination’; Acar and Altunok, ‘The “politics of the intimate”’; Buğra, ‘Revisiting the Wollstonecraft dilemma’.

¹⁴⁷ Kandiyoti, ‘Locating the politics of gender’, p. 111.

¹⁴⁸ Mahmood, Saba, ‘Feminist theory, embodiment, and the docile agent: Some reflections on the Egyptian Islamic revival’, Cultural Anthropology, 6:2 (2001), pp. 202–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁴⁹ Mahmood, Politics of Piety, p. 9.

¹⁵⁰ Lombardo, Meier, and Verloo, ‘Stretching and bending gender equality’.

¹⁵¹ Van Eerdewijk and Roggeband, ‘Gender equality norm diffusion’.